Reasons For Admission: Every One of Us Could’ve Been Locked Away in an Insane Asylum

West Virginia Hospital for the Insane (Weston)
October 22, 1864 to December 12, 1889

These are actual justifications, taken from official records, for admission of patients into the luxurious (I’m certain) and delicately named West Virginia Hospital for the Insane, during the years following the Civil War.

Besides being comedy gold, I have little doubt that, in the right hands, this list could provide the basis for a dandy drinking game. At the very least, it’s fun to peruse the checklist and realize that each and every one of us could’ve found our sorry asses incarcerated in a nineteenth century nuthouse. Hell, just last night after dinner I provided a half-dozen “reasons for admission” myself. Have fun!

Please note: This is a repeat of something I posted years ago at the old FrontPage site. My friend Rocky used to work in that so-called hospital, and sent me the information above. Just as an FYI… the original name of the facility was the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Heh. Folks certainly had a way with words back then, didn’t they?

What would you add, from a modern perspective? Please use the comments link below.

I saw a program on TV about how their having haunted tours there. Yhey said it’s so “active” no props are needed. I would love to go! I’m into that shit….. which is reason for admission in and of itself. As well as:

I’ve done some reading about these asylums back in the day, and so many people ended up spending most or all of their adult lives there because they either had a bad day and started yelling, or someone didn’t like them and just made up a reason why they needed to be thrown in the bin. This list is a perfect example of made up reasons. Bizarre, a little funny, and also totally horrifying to think that your neighbor could say “He’s disappointed, lock him up!” and they just would.